Program

TUESDAY FILM CLUB: DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING DEPARTMENT FAMU

The Czech Republic has a long tradition of creating exceptional documentary films. How do these students see the future of Czech documentaries evolving?

Documentary
film studies were a part of the Department of Direction since the beginnings of
FAMU. They separated in 1961, in particular as a result of the activities of
Antonín F. Šulc. Ever since the beginning, the teachers were prominent authors
who shaped the Czech film and TV documentary genre and pedagogy (such as Jiří
Lehovec).

The
development of the documentary and journalistic film and in particular TV
genres resulted in the need for bringing up comprehensively educated and
prepared author and director personalities. The Department would go through
various phases of its development in connection with what the political and
social demand dictated in terms of raising documentary authors. The relatively
liberal period of the 1960s gave way to the 1970s when there were strong
efforts at forcing the requirements of the “normalising” society upon the
curricula, student assignments and teaching staff. There was a “thaw” in the
latter half of the 1980 when nonconformist (by the period standard) films and
topics started to appear. After November 1989, the Department underwent a
gradual transformation into its current form where documentary film is understood
as a specific artistic discipline involving a wide range of approaches to
filmmaking, with emphasis on authors’ films.

Hands-on
studies are complemented by theory subjects aimed at learning and education in
art science and arts, and specialized seminars developing both analytical and
creative abilities.

Tonight’s
film selection include:

Alžběta Kovandová:
Světlík / Air Shaft 9:00, 2014A small house inside the courtyard of
a larger building. A small flat with only one window. A window leading to an
air shaft. To what extent can we affect what happens behind the walls and how
does what happens behind the walls affect us? Should we try to help
someone who does not want to be helped?

Andran Abramjan: Argumenty / Arguments 20:35, 2014An international debating contest
where high school students discuss the Ukrainian crisis is met by a telephone
call from Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky to the Ukrainian Ministry of the
Interior. A conceptual play about the possibilities of diplomacy and the need
to catch one’s opponent with his pants down.

Jan Strejcovský: Igorovo velké dojetí / Igor’s Great Emotion 25:00, 2012Igor’s Great Emotion is a game for one
of the most talented post-1989 directors. Contemporary self-reflection over
daredevil deeds mixes with reconstructed fragments of laboriously desensitised
memory. But by calling oneself a “spiritual seeker”, one
cannot bury the sleeping demons forever. And so during clinical death only
instant spiritual séances can bring the director back. An attempt at laying off
the sedatives and resurrecting a director who ostentatiously killed himself by publishing
a diary, or the death of the director in order to make the world his empire
through the inclusion of the occult.

Martina Ševčíková: Několik Let / Several Years 47:00, 2014 Miroslav Brož’s quixotic struggle to improve the
status of the Roma in the Czech Republic has found expression in protests for
the removal of a pig farm. The lack of participants in the planned blockade
leads to frustration and lost hope for fulfilling the
vision of a more active civil society. The diffidence from the protest’s
outcome is contrasted with the terseness of Brož’s voiceover commentary and his
activities on social networks, which are subtly edited onto the screen.“I am
calling from Lety near Písek, where a pig farm stands on the site of a gypsy concentration
camp. We are non-violently blocking access to the farm. I am asking for any
help possible. There are too few of us.”

Robin Kvapil: Film o Ondrejovi Jajcajovi, vykradači hrobů / Film about Ondrej Jajcaj,Graverobber 40 min., 2012Ondrej
Jajcaj has collected human teeth sincehe was fourteen. His collection even
includedthe teeth of composers Strauss and Brahms,and his private collection of
dental prosthesesis said to be the world’s largest. Most frequently, however,
he sets out for graves in the vicinity of the Sudetenland. He says people shouldn’t
collect famous painters’ works, but rather their heads so they can tell their
sweethearts:“Look, those are paintings are from this head.”
And despite this he’s a beautiful person. As are all of you...